Regional Conflict, Crowded Air Space, Competition Threaten Gulf Airlines

The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) top official believes that political instability in the Middle East is posing a threat to the region’s airline industry growth.

The Middle East airline industry has not yet totally recovered from the Arab Spring – the 2010 series of protests and demonstrations across the region.

That’s the view of IATA CEO, Alexander de Juniac, who believes that continuing regional political instability is still affecting the industry.

The tourism industry in Egypt, for example, has not yet fully recovered from the impact of the Arab Spring, he said.

The geopolitical instability and security threats hovering in the region are not encouraging the development of air traffic.

What we have seen so far is that dynamic actors are able to overcome the challenges. But the more instability you have, the less attractive the region will be.

The CEO cited the blockade in Qatar, the war in Yemen, and the position of Iran and the Saudi-led countries as not being favourable conditions for air transport.

Speaking of the blockade, de Juniac said IATA believes that the world needs connectivity with Qatar.

We will help to establish normal connectivity between Qatar and the rest of the world.

We have practically helped the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to find an appropriate corridor for Qatar Airways and for the airlines flying to Qatar to be able to have access to the country.

He said that governments had the right to close their borders when they thought it is necessary.

They can do it but border closure has never been good news to the airline industry, he added.

Regarding the war in Yemen, de Juniac said that uncontrolled groups were firing short-range missiles.

When missiles are fired by a state army there is no problem because it applies ICAO regulations and warns airlines.

But when uncontrolled groups fire missiles, it is dangerous. That is what happened in Ukraine and it is now the case in Yemen.

The missiles are not fired precisely and, in that case, there may be a need to establish a no-fly zone.

He added that, that in the wake of the Malaysian airliner MH17 disaster a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on July 17 2014 while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew, pilot awareness of missiles had increased.

The CEO also reacted to the third version of the Trump administration’s travel ban, which the US Supreme Court allowed to go into effect on December 4.

The ban bars most citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea from entering the United States.

There is little passenger traffic coming from those countries to the US.

There are no direct flights between these countries and the US and that is why we believe that the operational consequence will be limited, he said.

De Juniac said that Gulf airlines had been affected by various factors over the years. It’s not just political instability, they’ve also been growing at an incredible double digit pace. Now I think they are entering into normal waters, he said.

They are now growing like their peers. They are discovering the big world facing similar issues like replanning their networks, which is normal business.

Despite the political turmoil, IATA forecasts that Middle East carriers will see net profits improve to $600 million in 2018 – up from 300 million last year.

Demand in 2018 is expected to grow by 7%, outpacing announced capacity expansion of 4.9% which is the slowest growth since 2002.

According to IATA, the region’s carriers face challenges to their business models, and from low oil revenues, regional conflict, crowded air space, the impact of travel restrictions to the US, and competition from the new super connector - Turkish Airlines.

Despite the challenges, however, there is positive momentum heading into 2018.


Tourism Observer

JORDAN: Balancing Between Syria War And Promoting Jordanian Tourism

Natural wonders it has in abundance, but natural resources are lacking. And now one of Jordan's main money-earners - tourism - is being killed off by regional conflicts.

A haven of peace surrounded by war, Jordan is turning to contingency measures to try to revive its tourism industry which is suffering because of the raging violence in its neighbours Iraq and Syria.

Tourism in 2014 contributed 14 percent of the kingdom's gross domestic product, to the tune of $4.4bn, the second highest earner after remittances from expatriates.

But the flow of tourism revenue is becoming a trickle.

"For three days I haven't had a tourist come in here," said 30-year-old Mohammed of his souvenir shop in central Amman.

"Things are slowing down, and each year seems to be worse than the last."

The Hashemite kingdom has no shortage of acclaimed wonders, both natural and man-made.

Its rose-pink rock-hewn city of Petra is one of the seven wonders of the world, and the Roman ruins at Jerash in the north of the country near the border with Syria are among the region's most impressive.

The desert at Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea have always figured high on the list of the country's natural attractions.

Until recent years, such sites attracted hundreds of thousands of Western tourists on the trail of the first great civilisations.

But now they are devoid of visitors, frightened off by regional unrest in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring that swept across the Middle East and North Africa.

In those four years, the number of people who visit Petra every year has nearly halved, from just under a million in 2010 to around 600,000 last year. Ten hotels there have had to shut their doors.

And revenue from tourism was down 15 percent during the first four months of 2015 on last year, falling to $1.5bn.

Tourism Minister Nayef al-Fayez attributed the fall to the absence among visitors of visibility on the situation in Jordan.

The head of the country's tourism office, Abderrazak Arabyat, has now come up with an emergency plan aimed at raising Jordan's international profile and getting out of this situation.

There's no magic wand we can wave to fix things in a few weeks.

But we have put in place an ambitious plan targeting in particular the countries of the Gulf such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

New markets including Turkey and the Far East will also be approached, among them China, Japan and South Korea, with the hope of seeing positive results from next year.

There is also a rethink on diversifying the actual product and boosting services such as medical tourism.

According to Fawzi Hamouri, who heads the country's association of private clinics, Jordan has become the prime medical destination in the Middle East and North Africa, with 250,000 foreign patients treated in 2014.

Some Jordanians in the industry believe the authorities are not doing enough, however.

Travel agent Salama Khattar deplores what he called the absence of a clear and ambitious programme of work to relaunch tourism.

We have made no profits since 2011. We are paying the overheads out of our own pockets, he said.

In the past four years, Khattar's agency which brings tourist groups from Belgium, France, Norway and Sweden has seen its business cut in half.

Amman emphasises safety to try to reassure foreign visitors, but Jordanian involvement in the air campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq does not mean it is sheltered from extremism.

It shouldn't be us who pays the price, the tourism minister said, since Jordan is not part of the problem in the region.

Julien, a young French tourist visiting the towering Roman theatre dominating the centre of Amman, said he had no regrets about coming.

A great stay, and no sense of feeling insecure despite a few initial reservations linked to the current trouble, he said.

Western governments regularly warn their citizens that Jordan is not immune from the violence that afflicts the region.

The threat of terrorism remains high in Jordan, says the US State Department's current travel advisory.

The last attack in the country was in 2005, when suicide bombers blew themselves up in three of the capital's hotels, killing 60 people.

GULF: Diplomatic Fight Against Qatar Will Ignite More Conflict In The Gulf Region

Arm twisting Qatar by other powerful Arab states is deepening divisions between their respective allies vying for influence in wars and political struggles from Libya to Yemen.

The feud complicates efforts to stabilise countries reeling from years of turmoil and undermines the notion of a Sunni Muslim Arab world united against terrorism and Iran, proclaimed by US President Donald Trump in his visit last month.

The quarrel is the latest chapter in the battle of wills between political Islamists and traditional Arab autocrats which has buffeted Muslim societies for decades.

Since the 2011 "Arab Spring" protests, which aspired to democratic reform but in several countries collapsed into warfare, Egypt and especially the United Arab Emirates emerged as main foes of an ascendant Muslim Brotherhood backed by Qatar.

After Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE cut ties to Doha on Monday, accusing it of supporting militants and Iran, regional allies followed suit and denounced domestic foes as Qatari stooges, undermining reconciliation efforts by foreign powers.

The whole situation has become very awkward. Qatar and its big rivals are fighting each other, but indirectly and on other people's territory, said Yemeni analyst Farea al-Muslimi.

Having internal Arab messes like this escalate and get more complicated makes it pretty clear that the Arab world is far away from solving other issues like Palestine or Iraq or even the relationship with Iran.

In Libya, the UAE and Qatar, which both played key roles in backing rebels in the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, have emerged as rivals on the battlefield with conflicting interests and visions.

The UAE, along with Egypt, has backed anti-Islamist former army commander Khalifa Haftar, appointed by a government and parliament based in the east. Qatar and Turkey have supported rival Islamist-leaning factions in western Libya.

In Yemen mired in conflict since Saudi Arabia launched an air war in 2015 against the Houthi movement that controls the capital a southern Yemeni secessionist council armed by the UAE opposes the internationally recognized government because it includes the Qatar-backed Muslim Brotherhood.

The council and Yemen's Saudi-backed government, despite years of Qatar ties, cut diplomatic relations with Doha.

The eastern-based Libyan government and parliament aligned with anti-Islamist Haftar did the same.

We are certain that the concerned states in the Gulf and Egypt will put pressure so as to drastically shift Qatar's outrageous policies, Mohamed Dayri, the foreign minister of Libya eastern government, said.

On Friday Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain designated as terrorists five Libyans including Tripoli Grand Mufti Sadiq al-Ghariani, an influential figure for anti-Haftar militias in western Libya.

They also listed the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), a group that has tried to revive armed opposition to Haftar since last year.

Qatar has for years punched well above its weight in world affairs by parleying its vast gas wealth into influence across the region, irking the UAE and dominant Gulf Arab power Saudi Arabia with its maverick stances and support for Islamists.

Now, Qatar's powerful neighbours appear to be demanding a retreat from those conflicts.
The message now is that it's time for Qatar to withdraw from the region and essentially not have an independent foreign policy.

It looks like Saudi Arabia and the UAE won't be satisfied until Qatar is pushed to stop funding the groups they don't like, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

But these demands come while Qatar's allies have for the most part been forced onto the back foot.
Blessed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, former Egyptian army chief and now president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted the Qatar-aligned elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in a 2013 military takeover.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, some of its leaders based in Doha, is no closer to leading the Palestinian people then when it fell out with secular rivals in the Fatah party in 2007.

The Gulf spat is likely to further fuel inter-rebel conflicts in Syria, where rivalries between Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been showcased since the earliest days of the crisis.

Qatar's friends who retain a plausible chance at national leadership, in Libya and Yemen, may have the most to lose from the row.

Haftar styles himself as a bane of extremism, and has become the dominant figure in eastern Libya since launching a campaign against Islamist groups and former rebels in Benghazi three years ago. Many suspect he seeks national rule.

His supporters believe the Qatar spat vindicates their anti-Islamist stance, as Haftar has gained ground and the UN-backed Tripoli government that he has rejected has been floundering.

Any hardening of the Haftar camp's stance could complicate mediation efforts by Libya's neighbours to the west, Algeria and Tunisia, which have been pushing for an inclusive, negotiated solution.

Qatar being made an example out of means that Haftar, Egypt and the UAE will experience much less diplomatic pushback as they ramp up their military campaign inside Libya itself.

MOROCCO: Tourism Still Stagnant But Government Struggling To Revive It

Morocco's key tourism sector barely grew last year amid security challenges, but operators are hoping Chinese and Russian visitors will boost their fortunes in the coming years.

While political turmoil and jihadist attacks have battered the sector in Egypt and Tunisia, Morocco registered 10 million visitors last year, according to the Moroccan Tourism Observatory. That was a barely perceptible rise of 1.5 percent from 2015, it said.

But hoteliers in the narrow streets of the capital Rabat's old city were cautiously positive. "Last year was better than 2015. And the first two months of 2017 augured an even better year," said Hanane, manager of a local guesthouse.

Tourists are easy to spot wandering through Rabat's old city with its craft stalls, Andalusian-style houses and a 12th-century kasbah overlooking the Atlantic. But while tourism revenues rose 3.4 percent to $6.3 billion (5.9 billion euros) in 2016, visitor arrivals to Morocco have fallen far short of an ambitious official target of 20 million per year by 2020.

A growing number of visits by Moroccans who live abroad - counted as tourists when they come home - accounted for much of the sector's buoyancy. Foreign visitor arrivals last year were down by 0.9 percent. Karim, owner of a travel agency in commercial capital Casablanca, said more work was needed to drum up new business.

"The situation is pushing us to look for new markets outside Europe," he said. "But overall, it can be said that there was a slight recovery in 2016."


Authorities are hoping for an influx of Russian and Chinese tourists, who currently account for just one percent of total visitors. That is far behind the French, who make up almost a third of arrivals - a figure that includes many of Moroccan origin. "Europeans still top the list, but the number of Chinese visitors is growing," Hanane said.

"Since visas for the Chinese were abolished in June, a door has been opened."

Tourism remains a vital pillar of the Moroccan economy and the country's second biggest employer, after agriculture. The sector accounts for 10 percent of national income and, along with exports and remittances from Moroccans overseas, it is one of the country's main sources of foreign currency.

Former imperial city Marrakesh, with its UNESCO-listed old town, and the coastal town of Agadir have long been key attractions. They remain popular - in contrast to Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt, where visitor numbers have plummeted following the Arab Spring uprisings and repeated jihadist attacks. Morocco has not experienced an attack since a 2011 bombing in Marrakesh's famed Jamaa El Fna Square, which killed 17 people, mainly European tourists.

Today, security forces stand guard at Morocco's main tourist sites. The government, a key security partner of European countries, regularly announces it has dismantled jihadist cells. But while the kingdom remains safer than other countries in the region, visitor numbers have stubbornly refused to rise.

The local press calls the sector's performance "lacklustre and disappointing" compared with a 2010 plan to double arrivals. Back then, "Vision 2020" envisioned creating 200,000 new hotel beds and attracting 20 million visitors a year by the end of the decade. Since then, "many international factors" had disrupted the government's efforts, Observatory chief Said Mouhid said. "We will not reach 20 million in 2020, for sure, but it remains a symbolic figure to mobilise operators," he said. He defended last year's performance as "respectable and positive". "We are in a difficult international context, marked by many obstacles to travel," he said. "These figures prove the resilience of Moroccan tourism, even if they remain below our ambitions."

EGYPT: After EgyptAir MS804 Dissapearance,Will Egypt Tourism Boom Again?

Whoever or Whatever caused the disappearance of EgyptAir flight MS804, the effect on Egypt's tourism industry is likely to be terrible.

Tourism has long been a mainstay of the country's economy, which is the second largest in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia.

But in the light of recent attacks on Western tourists, and with large areas of neighbouring Libya controlled by so-called Islamic State (IS), foreign holidaymakers are reluctant to set foot there.

Before the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 as part of the short-lived Arab Spring, tourism employed more than one in 10 of the workforce and generated the equivalent of $12.5bn (£8.5bn) in revenue.

At that time, Egypt could boast nearly 15 million tourists a year, lured by such attractions as the pyramids in Cairo and the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Although there is no warning against the resort itself, the UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel by air to and from Sharm el-Sheikh, after the downing of a Russian jet that took off from the resort in October last year.

Another Red Sea resort, Hurghada, was the scene of an attack in January by suspected IS militants, who stabbed three Western tourists, although their injuries did not prove to be life-threatening.

Terrorists continue to plan and conduct attacks in Egypt. More attacks are likely."

It is still unclear whether the EgyptAir plane fell victim to terrorism or whether an accident was to blame.

But either way, the Egyptian economy will suffer as a result, according to Dr Yeganeh Morakabati, an expert in international relations, risk and tourism at Bournemouth University.

With terrorism, Egypt tourism still suffers.

Mike Bugsgang, chief executive of the UK-based Association of Group Travel Organisers, also fears the possible consequences for Egyptian tourism.

It's not yet proven that EgyptAir was brought down by terrorism, but if it is, it's going to be a big problem for the Egyptian tourism business, which is ongoing, in addition to events that have taken place in the recent past."

Small wonder, then, that the number of tourists in Egypt is declining. By 2013, it had fallen by one-third to under 10 million a year, and has undoubtedly slumped further since then.

And last year's revenue from tourism was just under half the 2010 figure, at $6.1bn (£4.2bn).

Tour operators may not explain the cause of the nosedive in tourists to egypt but they simply promote alternative destinations believed to be safer.

Holidaymakers have been turning to safer countries such as Spain,Bulgaria and Iceland which have experienced a rise in summer bookings this year.

Its bad news for Egyptians who rely on foreign visitors for their livelihood: hotel workers, tourist guides, taxi drivers and stallholders in the local souks and bazaars.

New security upgrades are in the pipeline, including a £20m programme to add more CCTV cameras and other measures, such as sniffer dogs.

Security at airports has been beefed up too.

Routine security checks are carried out on people entering Sharm el-Sheikh and the police regularly check vehicles in the towns of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada.

"We have put a lot of new equipment in, we will continue to put a lot of equipment in. We're training and retraining the people," says Egypt's new tourism minister, Yehia Rashed.

But despite his claim that "Egypt is 100% secure", would-be visitors will take some convincing.

Likely, Egypt tourism will continue suffering for as long as terrorists are able to access airports, planes and Hotels.

Terrorists or their accomplices are employes at airports and Hotels, they are everywhere. Weeding them out may not be easy yet.

We've seen examples of this over the years and there's no getting away from the fact that Egypt is very popular with British holidaymakers.

The British travel industry will continue to support Egypt boosting tourism, but in line with Foreign Office advice.

At least not now, will tourism in Egypt improve.

Simply watch.

TURKEY: Turkey Tourism Ravaged By Recent Bomb Attack

Tourism was already being hard-hit by the spat with Russia, the falling ruble, and growing anxiety in Europe about security.
The Suicide attack in Istanbul has dealt a fresh blow to tourism in Turkey, which had already lost holidaymakers due to growing European jitters over security and a spat with Russia, once a top supplier of visitors.

Three months after double suicide bombings in Ankara killed 103 mostly pro-Kurdish activists, Tuesday's attack, which killed 10 Germans, clearly targeted the tourist sector, one of the mainstays in a country which was the world's sixth-most visited in 2014.

A record 36.8 million holidaymakers visited Turkey in 2014 according to the World Tourism Organisation, with Germans making up the biggest group, followed by Russians and Britons.

But the country's tourism appeal started to dim in 2015, with Turkey suffering the same fate as other Muslim countries such as Morocco and Indonesia that are being spurned by Europeans after attacks on tourists in Egypt and Tunisia. The Indonesian capital Jakarta was rocked by several small bombs on Thursday, with six people so far reported killed.

"In the mind of the Western tourist, there is no doubt that the potential attacks by an Islamist group on one country will be associated to danger in the whole region. Those attacks, coupled with Turkey's own attacks and proximity to Syria, have a detrimental impact on tourism flows towards the country," said Kinda Chebib, an analyst at Euromonitor International market research agency.

The flow of Russian tourists, 4.4 million of whom visited Turkey in 2014, had already slowed significantly in 2015 over the collapse of the ruble.

But the shooting down by Turkey's air force of a Russian bomber on the border with Syria in November turned the tap off completely.

Incensed by the attack, Russia warned its citizens against all travel to Turkey and recommended they head for the beaches of Russian-annexed Crimea instead.

The final tally of tourists received by Turkey in 2015 - and an estimate of their spending - is not yet known.

Euromonitor reports that the country's tourism profits fell 4.4 percent in the third quarter of 2015 to $12.29bn.

Instability a turn-off

The attack in the historic heart of Istanbul, which the government blamed on the Islamic State (IS) group, is expected to have an immediate impact on travel to the bustling metropolis on the Bosphorus, which is a popular weekend destination for Europeans in winter.

"This is the first time that I've been afraid for my life while on holiday," French tourist Nathalie Julien said after the assault next to the famed Blue Mosque.

"I just want to get home now, it's scary," she said.

Jean-Pierre Nadir, president of Easyvoyage flight comparison website, was pessimistic about the chances of Turkey rebounding quickly as a destination, after months of making headlines for terror attacks and tensions, including with the country's own Kurdish minority.

"This attack, which comes on top of the confusion created by President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan's policies that have tarnished the destination's reputation, puts a stop to (travel to) Turkey," Nadir declared.

The message from Germany was mixed.

German tourism giant TUI said customers who had booked trips to Istanbul could cancel or reschedule their trip by 18 January without paying a penalty.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said there was "no reason to cancel trips to Turkey", even as the foreign ministry advised Germans to avoid tourist attractions in Istanbul.

Several European tour operators have already pared back their offerings for Muslim countries in their 2016 summer travel brochures.

French holiday club operator Marmara's packages for Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco account for only 20 percent of its selection, down from 45 percent last year.

The losses date back five years, since the start of the Arab Spring in Tunisia.

Tunisia's revolution set off a series of uprisings across the Arab world, most of which collapsed into civil war, sectarian strife or autocratic rule, combined with the march of militant groups like IS.

French tour operators say they have 750,000 fewer takers for package holidays in the Middle East and North Africa compared to a decade ago.

"The destinations now benefitting from the situation and expecting to attract an increasing number of tourists in the forecast are Greece, Spain and Portugal," said Euromonitor's Chebib, listing their main selling points as "competitive prices and political stability".

EGYPT: Tourism Slump Affecting Egyptian Economy

The downing of a plane over Egypt late last year delivered a big setback to the country's economic recovery plan.


Egypt was trying to rebuild its tourism industry after the Arab Spring protests in 2011 scared off millions of visitors.


But the bomb on a Russian jet over the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in November caused another slump in tourist numbers.

We are in agreement that this is a shock," Egypt's finance minister, Hany Kadry Dimian, said.

The Egyptian government was doing all it could to reassure the international community that the country was safe.

"There is a negative impact, no doubt. But we hope that we will make it as short lived as possible," he added.

Before the terrorist attack, Egypt was hoping its economy would grow by about 5.5% in 2016.

Dimian has been forced to downgrade that target by more than a full percentage point as visitor numbers dropped to 9.3 million last year. Egypt attracted a record 14.7 million tourists in 2010, the year before the Arab Spring.

The country remains under intense security with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi often criticized for his crackdown on domestic political opposition.

The political and economic uncertainty has kept pressure on the Egyptian pound, with the country's central bank defending the official exchange rate of 7.73 to the U.S. dollar versus a black market rate of 9.

The central bank recently closed four foreign exchange companies for allegedly facilitating black market trade in the currency.

ALGERIA: A Country Closed In On Itself, Yet Seeks Tourists

Tourists visit a beach in Tipaza

With its ancient Roman ruins and golden beaches set against the lush hills of western Algeria, Tipaza should be a star of the Mediterranean tourist industry. Its proximity to North Africa’s conflicts, decrepit hotels and erratic water supply help explain why it’s not.

Unlike in neighboring Morocco and Tunisia, Algeria’s attractions were ignored for decades as it lived off its oil and gas, and civil war kept holidaymakers away. Faced with the plunging price of crude, it’s now seeking to tap other assets and build a tourist industry.

“The sector was on the fringes of the national economy for many years,” Tourism Minister Amar Ghoul said in an interview in Algiers. “Our mission today is to place it at the heart.” Nearly 1,000 tourist projects worth at least $3.9 billion have been approved, he said.

One of the region’s least-visited countries, there’s enough potential to have lured Intercontinental Group and Holiday Inn this year. But more investment is needed and the drive to catch up is badly timed, as Islamist violence scares people away from the region.

“Algeria is only beginning to emerge as a destination, and this new beginning will be especially difficult during a time like this,” said Nadejda Popova, a travel analyst at market research firm Euromonitor International. “Unfortunately, the circumstances are against them.”

Morocco is the best example of what a tourism industry can do for a North African country: it employs 400,000 people there and accounts for about 10 percent of the $107 billion economy. Algeria’s need for cash is less pressing -- it has $158 billion of reserves, amassed from energy exports. Still, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s government wants new sources of jobs for a youthful population, and revenue for a welfare system that helps keep the peace.

Tunisia, has also succeeded in building a mass tourism industry, but one that’s in crisis after dozens of holidaymakers were shot dead on a beach by Islamist militants. Egypt has experienced a similar reverse since the Arab Spring of 2011.

All those governments have know how that Algeria lacks. They use YouTube and Twitter for marketing campaigns, while the website of Algeria’s Tourism Ministry is often offline. And even if tourists do reach the country, there’s a shortage of places for them to stay: the capital, Algiers, has just 19,000 hotel beds.

Similar obstacles exist in Tipaza, an hour’s drive west. Besides the region’s natural beauty there’s nothing to attract visitors, provincial governor Abdelkader Kadi said at a meeting of local leaders. Taps often dry up, hotels and archaeological sites aren’t maintained and the local museum is often closed, he said.

“If we continue like this, no tourist will ever come,” Kadi said. “We all need to change how we do things, and here in Tipaza we have to lead the way.”

That requires major investment so even as the government cut spending this year by 9 percent, it pledged not to ax infrastructure that will support a more diversified economy, including the construction of ports and airports.

Didier Boidin, vice president of InterContinental Hotels Group, is among the believers. “It’s a country that has a huge economic and touristic capital,” Boidin said in an interview in Algiers. InterContinental and Holiday Inn will partner to open their first hotel in the capital by March.

The government knows it has to build an image as well as infrastructure. It sponsored Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the French photographer whose coffee-table book “Earth From Above” was a bestseller, to film the country’s snow-capped mountains, Saharan sand dunes and world heritage sites from the sky.

Officials say they’re having some success: last year, Algeria recorded 2.7 million arrivals, the most ever. But almost all were Algerian expats, while others were descendants of the so-called pied-noir, French-speaking natives whose families emigrated before the country won independence from France in 1962.

Algerians endured another brutal conflict more recently, the civil war between Islamists and the army that ended in 2000. Its legacy is a deeper reason why Algeria struggles to attract foreign visitors, said Cherif Amouche, who worked as a tour guide before the industry was decimated by fighting.

“Security is important, of course, it’s a consideration for foreign tourists, but in the case of Algeria it isn’t the only one keeping them away,” he said. “Algeria has become a country closed in on itself.”

The government must train more hospitality workers -- Algeria has just one state tourism college, though there are also private centers -- and ease bureaucracy that makes visa applications long and expensive, Amouche said.

The Basilica of St. Augustine illustrates the problem. Perched on a green hill near the eastern coastal town of Annaba and overlooking ancient Roman ruins, it was among the most-visited sites before the civil war. Some pilgrims still come to celebrate the life of St. Augustine, who was born in Algeria in 354 AD and helped formulate the doctrine of original sin.

It was empty on a recent Saturday, though, even after the government, with help from France and Pope Benedict XVI, spent $7 million to restore it. Bachir Aami, who lives nearby, said the community was hoping that the investment would revive interest.

“It’s been restored but we still haven’t had many visitors,” he said. “Tourists would be so welcome.”

EGYPT: Egypt Hopes Of Tourism Revival Expensive

Tourism in Sharm al-Sheikh was picking up again after years of political turmoil, with so many Russians enjoying the sun and fun that local beach aerobics instructors used the visitors’ own language rather than Arabic or English.

Life was at last starting to look good for residents of the Red Sea resort, but that was before an airliner taking Russian tourists home broke up over the Sinai Peninsula, where Islamic State militants suspected of planting a bomb on the plane are waging an insurgency.

Now the future looks grim for thousands of Egyptians, from taxi drivers to diving instructors, who flocked to Sharm al-Sheikh to find jobs. One tour company official predicted holidays might now have to be discounted by up to 50 percent.

“I have been working in Sharm for three years but this is the first time I have ever seen it so empty,” said Ahmed Rabie. He spoke outside the cafe he runs in Naama Bay, at the resort’s heart. Chairs were stacked on tables and not a single person was sitting inside.

“Right now, all these cafes and restaurants would be full.”

Rabie pays 30,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,700) a month to rent the space, in addition to operational costs.

He said many small business owners had shut up shop after Western governments announced that the Airbus 321 was likely brought down by a bomb and then suspended flights to Sharm al-Sheikh, with Russia following suit.

“We are waiting for two or three days to see what happens but if it keeps on like this we will shut down and leave,” he said.

With low prices, cheap package deals and plenty of hotel rooms, Sharm al-Sheikh was a driving force behind Egypt’s efforts to lure back visitors.

It was starting to buzz.

Then the Russian plane crashed, with Islamic State claiming it was responsible. This immediately alarmed Egyptians, acutely aware of how vulnerable tourism is to such violence.

On Nov. 17, 1997 Islamic militants descended on Queen Hatshepsut’s temple near the Nile town of Luxor. In short order they shot or hacked to death 58 tourists and four Egyptians.

The following January and February, visitor numbers were down almost 60 percent from the previous year. The industry staged a remarkable comeback, but it took years.

Last month, Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said tourism — a pillar of the economy — expected moderate growth this year with the aid of a global advertising campaign.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has restored some stability since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 following mass protests against his rule, but not enough to persuade large numbers of foreigners that it is safe to return.

Last year, 9.9 million tourists visited Egypt, a far cry from the 14.7 million who came in 2010, the year before the Arab Spring revolutions convulsed the Middle East.

An official at Sharm Travel Solutions, a British-owned Sharm al-Sheikh tour company, said holidays in the resort could be discounted by up to 50 percent if they can be sold at all.

“They may sell these holidays at half price but with flights suspended will anyone buy them?” the official said.

Other tour operators are offering holidays to Sharm al-Sheikh with price cuts of up to 200 pounds ($300).

A walk through Naama Bay reveals idle establishments, all with Russian signs to cater to the resort’s largest clientele.

The resort’s famous beaches fare only slightly better, with most just half full.

The prospect of a sharp decline in tourism receipts has left many scrambling to make sense of the sudden air disaster. Some are in denial.

“There are invisible foreign hands behind this,” said Mohamed Abdelaziz, who runs a safari trip business.

“Egypt lies in a strategic location and other countries are spiteful of this. Sharm is very safe, the police are even sometimes unfair to us to make sure it is safe for all guests.”

Many tourists interviewed agreed that Sharm al-Sheikh felt safe. Airport security was the problem, not the resort itself.

“Personally I felt sorry for Sharm as a resort when I heard about the plane crash. I’ve been here 14 times and I’ve never had a problem,” said British holidaymaker Vini Kneale.

If it turns out a bomb brought down the Russian plane, however, it would “discourage me from coming back,” he said.

THEY WANT THE AIRPORT

The crash is a blow to an already battered Sharm al-Sheikh tourism scene, said taxi driver Mohamed Odei.

“No one used to come here except the fat cats, people with thick wallets. Now if a tourist wants a budget holiday, they come here. And even that is coming to an end.”

Airport security was the main concern that drove British Prime Minister David Cameron to suspend flights to Sharm al-Sheikh. New regulations are now in place but for many it is too late.

“Egyptians don’t search well until there is a catastrophe.” says Odei, driving his taxi through a checkpoint outside the airport. Policemen with assault-rifles and soldiers circle his car, checking the trunk and his documentation.

Odei, originally from the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, has been working in Sharm al-Sheikh for seven years. He initially ran a restaurant but was forced to shut it down in 2005 after a suicide bomber attacked a market place and a hotel.

He noticed a sharp drop in passengers after flights were suspended.

“We now get maybe 30 percent of the passengers we usually get, and they all want to go to the airport,” he said. “I have never seen such crowds at the departure gate before, usually it’s the arrivals one.”

EGYPT: Tourism Industry Fears Huge Losses After Egypt Crash

Moscow has pulled 11,000 Russian tourists from Egypt in the past 24 hours, RIA news agency reported on Sunday (November 8), citing Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

Some 80,000 Russians have been stranded in Egypt since the Kremlin grounded all flights to the country on Friday following the crash of a Russian airliner in the Sinai Peninsula.

The crisis risks dealing a huge blow to Egypt’s tourism industry, but also to Russian tour operators.

“Egypt is the best selling destination now; it’s still peak season in Egypt, and this is the closest, warmest and most affordable destination,” said Irina Tiurina, spokeswoman for Russia’s Travel Industry Union. “Eighty percent of Russians who go on holiday abroad choose beach resorts; they go to warm places. So naturally the situation is very difficult.”

Russian and Egyptian authorities are carrying out an investigation into the fatal flight, which crashed on October 31 shortly after take-off from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board. Its intended destination was Saint Petersburg.

Britain and the United States suspect the plane an explosive device caused the disaster. But Egypt has urged caution and dismissed as “propaganda” claims the militant group ISIL brought down the plane.

Three million Russians holidayed in Egypt last year, more than any other nation. British tourists came next, but they are now also being repatriated, spelling bad news for Sharm el-Sheikh.

Until the crash, Sharm el-Sheikh had been considered a rare pocket of safety in Egypt. Elsewhere in the country, the tourism industry has been hit hard by years of political upheaval since the 2011 Arab Spring, as well as several bomb attacks.

SPAIN: Global Tourist Numbers Up In First Half - UN

The number of international tourists rose by 4.0% worldwide during the first half of 2015 although security and health concerns hit hard some African destinations, the UN World Tourism Organisation said Thursday.

Some 538 million tourists made trips to international destinations between January and June 2015 - 21 million more compared with the same period last year, the Madrid-based body said in a statement.

"These results show that, despite increased volatility, tourism continues to consolidate the positive performance it has had over the last five years and to provide development and economic opportunities worldwide," said the organization's head Taleb Rifai.

Global tourism figures were hard hit by the global financial crisis, declining 4.0% in 2009 as an outbreak of swine flu also contributed to cash-strapped people staying at home but have risen in each year since.

Asia, the Middle East and Europe, the world's most visited region, all saw a 5% increase in arrivals, with the Americas posting growth of 4.0%.

But Africa saw a drop of 6.0%.

North Africa, which was shaken by terrorist attacks in Tunisia, a popular lower-cost beach holiday spot for Europeans, saw arrivals fall by 10% while sub-Saharan Africa had a decline of 4.0%.

"Alongside the impacts of the terrorist attacks, African destinations have been impacted by the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in a few West African countries and the slower growth of regional economies depending on the export of oil and other commodities," the tourism body said.

Tunisia's tourism industry, which had been recovering after the Arab Spring unrest, was badly shaken in March by an attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis, followed by one in June in the resort of Sousse, that killed a total of 59 tourists.

The UN World Tourism Organization predicts international tourism arrivals will increase by 3.0% to 4.0% during all of 2015, after expanding by 4.7% last year.